Help

Newsletter

Sorry, Charlie: Still an assistant

UF's Strong unable to get head-coaching job, which "angers" Meyer.

RICK WILSON/The Times-UnionFlorida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong (right) has words for defensive tackle Torrey Davis after Davis received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during the fourth quarter of the BCS national championship game against Oklahoma on Jan. 8 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami.

GAINESVILLE - Charlie Strong walked onto the field with the rest of the Florida football team last Wednesday for the first day of spring practice.

That should be surprising, but it certainly isn't new.

Strong has built an impressive resume as a defensive coordinator, including the past six seasons at Florida, but not even putting together defenses that helped the Gators win the 2006 and 2008 national titles has been enough for him to land a head-coach job.

He's had interviews. Vanderbilt, California and Kansas State in 2001. Minnesota in January 2007. Georgia Tech in December 2007.

Yet he's still an assistant.

That probably bothers the 48-year-old Strong, though he's not saying. He's grown weary of worrying about what, if anything, might have gone wrong in those interviews. He won't talk about whether the fact that he is African-American and his wife is white had any kind of impact, as it might have when Buffalo's Turner Gill was passed over at Auburn last December.

Those issues would consume him if he let them, so he doesn't.

"That [becoming a head coach] is not anything I can control, so I don't worry about it," Strong said. "I'm happy at Florida, and I'm focused on the upcoming season. That's all that matters right now."

While happy that Strong is back at UF for another season, Meyer said Strong deserves to be a head coach.

"I'm going to tell you again that that's one of the finest coaches in America," Meyer said. "I'm going to say something else: a great husband and a great father and a great person, as good a guy as I've ever been around.

"There's a lot of good football guys out there that can draw Xs and look real neat on the board. He's good at that, obviously, but as far as a role model and making sure these guys do the right thing, [Strong is very good at that, too]."

Meyer said he has spoken to schools about hiring Strong, though he wouldn't reveal which ones. Sometimes, he felt the conversations were too one-sided.

"It kind of angers me sometimes," Meyer said. "I've been involved in those phone calls, and I can tell on the other end [I'm] talking to a deaf ear. I'm busy, and I don't have time to talk to you unless you're interested. Don't play people.''

UF athletic director Jeremy Foley also has intervened on Strong's behalf. He believes Strong will become a head coach - when the time is right. Strong has a good situation at Florida, Foley said, so he can be patient and pursue the job that best fits.

"First of all, Charlie's got a really good situation here. I think he loves Gainesville, Florida. I think his family loves Gainesville, Florida. So I don't Charlie is just going to go take any head-coaching job," Foley said. "I can remember having that conversation with [former defensive coordinator] Bobby Stoops. He had a lot of opportunities to leave before he did [for Oklahoma], and so Charlie's day will come.

"I think that when his day comes it's going to be a job where he can go win, be successful, be highly competitive, as he is, and that'll happen. I think he's been patient, and I think the Gator Nation needs to be patient. Charlie will get his shot."

Other UF assistants have capitalized on the program's recent success and left for better jobs.

Greg Mattison, who was the co-defensive coordinator along with Strong from 2005-07, is now an assistant coach with the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen was hired as head coach at Mississippi State last December despite having been a coordinator for only four seasons.

Strong has been a defensive coordinator for 10 seasons in the Southeastern Conference (four at South Carolina). Florida won the 2006 national title with a defense that smothered Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith and Ohio State. In 2008, Strong's unit led the country with 26 interceptions and made the third-largest improvement nationally in scoring defense (25.5 points per game to 12.9 ppg).

The Gators held Oklahoma, which averaged 54.0 points per game and had scored a Football Bowl Subdivision record 702 points, to 14 points in the BCS national championship game.

That gives Strong two national titles as a coordinator, which would ordinarily earn a raise from his $310,000 annual salary. But the athletic department budget process has yet to be completed.

That is still a significant figure, but it is behind at least seven other defensive coordinators in the SEC.

"We lost a couple coaches, but we've got seven coaches that came back who've all been part of a national championship program, so you're going to pay attention to all of them," Foley said.